Sushi bullies......
 

For Pickles, thought of the Sushi sensei stories you told me......

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122480233710964683.html

The first one hundred dollars (per person) is for great sushi. The second hundred dollars are for stories.

There are some free items. He would notice that you are lefty (me) and places the sushi in front of me for my hashi. Great tempura chef would do the same, usually the master and not the apprentice.

Pretty entertaining article.

It's great if you can stick to your core principles and freak out on people if they don't adhere to them but I suppose you've got to be able to establish your business first.
I attended a local food show where Hidekazu Tojo (owner of one of the restaurants listed at the bottom of the article) was doing a cooking demo and did some Q&A. He opened up his restaurant in the 80's when sushi was just getting established in Vancouver. One of the things he mentioned was that (paraphrasing here) he originally developed non-traditional items that would be better received by the locals to slowly introduce them to sushi. With the popularity of sushi nowadays, it's probably easier to do your own thing which, as the article mentions, can help you stand out from the competition.

Only in the States perhaps?

Have yet to meet a bully in London and Japan. We always have a jolly time chatting to the chefs. One chef in Tokyo even gave us a sushi calender when we left. :)

I'm guessing you've never been to Sushi Hiro near Ealing Common :)

Here's another FTer's independent comment:And from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...nk.restaurants
"presided over by someone who makes the pre-coup attempt Gordon Brown look like Kriss Akabusi hitting top form in the latter stages of a televised grinning contest."

Only in LA it seems. I cant really see people in NY putting up with that at an expensive restaurant. Soup is one thing, paying $200 bucks for abuse is quite another. Ive eaten at at a couple high end places in Tokyo, and the chefs were extremely warm and welcoming pleased that we enjoyed ourselves with no BS like this.

I had dinner at Kyubei in Ginza on Thursday night; absolutely no attitude at all.

That was one of the ones I was referring to. Umm, I wish I had dinner there last week ;)

I'd tell Mr Nozawa unless he is paying the bill I will get ... I want to.

In the world of the asshat itamae, unless you play by his rules, you won't pay any kind of bill at all. In fact, you won't even sit at his counter.

Reminds me of this.

I have to say, though, that this sushi chef who doesn't understand that some customers prefer less wasabi (or no wasabi) does not deserve the adulation he seems to get.